As we head into 2014, country music is primed to have a tumultuous year filled with historic change and big events. We’re looking at a year that has started with the continued dominance of hip hop-inspired laundry list country songs from male performers on the mainstream dial, but countered by a historic backlash from artists, radio programmers, and even Big Machine Label Group’s President Scott Borchetta who recently said, “We can’t keep talking about Fireball and Coors Light and having the tailgate down, etc.So we’ll task our writers and artists to dig a little deeper.”

Poised to be Big Machine’s 2014 big breakout act is a band called The Cadillac Three—a rough-edged, hard-rocking trio that if not touring honky tonks has been tearing it up in opening slots on big tours for artists like Dierks Bentley and Eric Church, while contributing songs to some of country music’s biggest names including the recent single from Jake Owen, “Days of Gold,” Tim McGraw’s “Southern Girl,” and Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly.”

Hard to pigeonhole, and certainly not what one would traditionally consider mainstream country music, The Cadillac Three’s following is fairly small at the moment, but their ability to appeal to mainstream fans, Southern rock fans, and even some independent and underground fans with a sound that despite whatever lack of depth is hard to not label as authentic and gritty, The Cadillac Three could be a band who finds themselves at the nexus of being able to take advantage of the “bro-country” phenomenon, and its backlash.

Cue a devilish cackle from Scott Borchetta.

The Many Names of The Cadillac Three

The Cadillac Three started out as The Cadillac Black, but really the heart of the band goes back to a group called American Bang, and even a group before that called Llama. Lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Jaren Johnston, slide player Kelby Ray, and drummer Neil Mason all grew up together in the Nashville area and have been playing music together since high school.

Name changes have been the name of the game for the band that would eventually be called The Cadillac Three. Llama, originally known as the Dahlia Llamas, was a band consisting of Cadillac Three drummer Neil Mason, a lead guitar player named Ben Brown, and 3 others. It was a high school band, but one that was signed to MCA Records and released an album in 2001 called Close To The Silence. Llama broke up in 2003, and a band called Bang Bang Bang was formed with Neil Mason, Ben Brown, and current Cadillac Three members Jaren Johnston and Kelby Ray. Bang Bang Bang also signed with Warner Brothers Records in 2006, and changed their name to American Bang when they found out another band was using the Bang Bang Bang name already.

Jaren Johnston is the primary songwriter for The Cadillac Three

After guitarist Ben Brown left, American Bang reformed into The Cadillac Black. When the band signed with Big Machine Records in February of 2013, once again the name was found to be too similar to other existing bands, and too hard to disambiguate with bands like The Black Cadillacs, and The Cadillac Black became The Cadillac Three.

Underground Image, Industry Success

Though the sound, the style, the image and presentation of The Cadillac Three seems to be a very stripped-down, ugly, underground affair, the band and it’s numerous predecessors have mostly existed within the industry and been signed to major labels. It’s interesting to note that when The Cadillac Three signed with Scott Borchetta and Big Machine, they were not slated for one of the label’s side imprints—Valory Music Group or Universal Republic—which some artists are delegated to so they can develop into larger names. From the start, The Cadillac Three are running with the big boys on Big Machine proper.

The band has been the perfect opener for artists like Eric Church and Dierks Bentley because they are a rocket-fueled, full-tilt act that can rev up an arena crowd, yet they offer a fairly narrow range of textures so they won’t upstage their headliner. Boiled down, The Cadillac Three’s lyrics are very typical laundry list fare, relying heavily on Southern artifacts spoken on with great reverence in a revolving fashion and delivered with Tommy Gun rapidity. It’s not that the band doesn’t have songs that shift gears, but The Cadillac Black may be a case where a band is simply doing what they’ve always done, and it’s the relevancy arch that inadvertently coincides with their sound instead of a band attempting to chase the current, relevant trend.

Like when Blake Shelton recorded Rhett Akins’ song “Kiss My Country Ass,” it’s not necessarily Rhett Akins’ fault that a song he wrote many years before became a trendy hit. The Cadillac Three aren’t trying to ape Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan; it’s more like vice versa. But being the less-recognized name may make it appear otherwise.

It’s Their Time

What listeners will not be able to lose sight of is that The Cadillac Three are far from the polished pretty boys currently pervading the top of the pop country ranks. Jaren Johnston’s patchy beard, Kelby Ray’s unruly hair, and three greasy baseball caps with the bill’s pointed in the right direction is not what mainstream country fans are used to looking at. Even their lineup is a little weird, with Kelby Ray handling the bass parts and guitar duty simultaneously through a steel guitar rig.

At the same time, many independent and underground country fans who see this band on paper and think it may be their kind of medicine will immediately be repulsed by their formulaic checklist tunes. Case in point is their first Big Machine single “The South” that features appearances by Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley, and Mike Eli of the Eli Young Band. Yes, “The South” is The Cadillac Three’s coronation into the mainstream if there ever was one.

But what makes The Cadillac Three an enigma for some fans is also what may sets them up to be the perfect storm in mainstream country in 2014—a band with a hard rock sound and catchy, easy-to-get-into lyrics that also has a grit and authenticity that an act like Florida Georgia Line is lacking. While mainstream male country continues to trend toward hip hop, and now EDM elements in their music, The Cadillac Three are holding steady to their guitar-driven, Southern rock sound. And where The Cadillac Three may have been perceived as being too one-dimensional for the mainstream in the past, now the mainstream is nothing but one-dimensional, making the band more relevant than most major label’s current rosters, while at the same time delivering a grit that can make The Cadillac Three appear as an alternative.

It all adds up to 2014 potentially being a huge year for The Cadillac Three, for better or worse.

48 Comments to “The Cadillac Three Poised for a Big 2014”

Clemson BradJanuary 13, 2014 at 4:27 pm

I have seen these guys live 3-4 times, and they put on a hell of show. Lots of fun rocking songs on their underground CD that came out last year. I’ll be curious if they will ever break out or not…I honestly see them always a cult band….but we will see.

He already has. Jaren’s well-known around Nashville and in the industry. After the CMAs there was a big banner outside of Sony/Atv on Music Row for a while congratulating him for charting with “Southern Girl”. He wrote most of Jake Owen’s new album, not just the title cut. He’s a beast.

That’s why Florida Georgia Line is credited in the song. They don’t play a significant part, but their name recognition (along with Dierks Bentley and Mike Eli) will add interest that might not have been there otherwise.

They probably will have success. The radio audience might view them as more authentic than the others, but I’d have to agree that it sounds just like brocountry, except with ugly dudes instead of pretty boys!

Make no mistake: there’s surely nothing wrong in repeatedly tipping your hat to your home state or heritage, especially when delivered from an emotional vein. Here, however, they just strike me as lyrically lazy: as though lyrics are always of secondary importance, if at all, to the intensity of their live show and musicianship. And, yes, the “frat boy country” tropes rear their ugly heads repeatedly in their lyrics as well.

Yeah I agree about the whole south thing. That may play in, well the south, but on a national level I have my doubts. This is a particularly annoying version of the laundry list song to me. As irritating as it may be everywhere has rural areas that we can all relate to on some level but the over reliance on southern imagery seems very confining.

And for whatever it’s worth ‘The South’ hasn’t exactly caught on immediate fire at radio. It hasn’t made it above #57 in over a month on the chart. I don’t think this is going to be the song that breaks these guys big.

I agree this song is unlikely to be their breakout single, despite the all-star ensemble backing.

There are instances where Southern pride as a topic can work. The Zac Brown Band obsess with this topic a lot too, but more often than not it sounds sincere rather than calculated because of Brown’s emotional commitment as a vocalist and the band’s organic harmonies and musicianship.

But when Southern pride is mixed with emotionally-cool swagger and adrenaline, it can REALLY get on my nerves. And, unfortunately, that’s exactly the case with quite a few The Cadillac Three cuts I’ve heard! =/

I have no problem with letting where your from influence and incorporate that into your music. And I would say ZBB do that very well without going overboard. I guess my main point would be that an act, especially a new one, should not over do it on one particular topic for their songs because you are limiting your reach. I haven’t heard enough other songs by The Cadillac Three to know what else they have as far as potential singles but I would suggest something with a more broad subject matter.

ChrisLewisLouieJanuary 13, 2014 at 5:18 pm

I’m really torn on these guys. In some respects they come across as an alternative to Blackberry Smoke with that southern rock (not country) vibe and sound which I really like, but on the other hand after listening to this new song “The South” if you weren’t watching the video, you would think it was a song straight from Florida Georgia Line.

I wonder if the inclusion of Florida Georgia Line does not help, but hurt how this song will score with the demographics that would be accepting of this song and The Cadillac Three. On it’s face, of course it may draw more curiosity from the masses with how big Florida Georgia Line is right now. But it also is playing right into their critic’s hands.

I would like to say that it hurts, as someone like me is a lot lass likely to pick up the album now that Fla/Ga Line is involved. However, as you’ve brought up several times, Big Machine doesn’t give a shit what I think. They will go on to sell a ton of albums now just because the album has “Florida Georgia Line” stamped on the front of it. I just hope they don’t give in & change their sound.

My wife had The Highway on the other day and I thought “Man, this new Florida Georgia Line song blows.” Turns out it was some guy named Cole Swindell who sounds just like them. It appears that their are sound-a-likes popping up just trying to make some quick cash.

It’s funny that something as simple as a name can make the difference in how one responds to a song. When I first heard “The South,” I thought it was FGL. Jaren Johnston has that same forced twang to his voice that Tyler Hubbard does, and sounds quite a bit like him. I didn’t care for the song when I thought it was by FGL; in fact, it was downright offensive how on-the-nose it was. When it occurred to me that it was by another band, the song immediately rose from horrible in my mind to guilty pleasure, and I now like the song. How weird.

When it comes to musicianship and passion as most reflected in their live shows, they deliver in spades. I think they have the right idea in where to broaden the mainstream format instrumentally and musically and you can tell they are heavily influenced by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and, yes, hard rock bands (he has admitted Rage Against The Machine is a big influence, which is surely one of the better rock acts of his generation to find inspiration in).

However, on the other hand………….much of their songwriting to date just seems hackneyed, uninspired and even unfinished at points: highly derivative of your typical Southern pride chest-pounding and “frat boy country” sensibilities here and there as well. It certainly isn’t a good sign when they’re enlisting Florida-Georgia Line on yet another laundry-list song titled “The South” to elevate their career to radio recognition.

At any rate, those are merely my first impressions and raw reactions, and we’re not going to have a clearer read of this trio until their debut full-length studio album is released. Up until this point I’ve been basing my views of their music on the live clips I’ve seen and heard, Jake Owen’s single “Days of Gold”, songwriting credits on Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly” and Tim McGraw’s “Southern Girl”, and the fact they’re signed to Big Machine. A full album will reveal a whole lot more, any way you slice it.

I like some of their material. Florida Georgia Line are the poor man’s Cadillac Three and The Cadillac Three are the poor man’s Whiskey Myers. I’d much rather see Whiskey Myers have a huge year instead of these guys, but unfortunately they don’t have Scott Borchetta behind them.

I shouldn’t complain though–– These guys are much better than what’s currently rotating on country radio.

Sounds like bro-country mixed with Kings of Leon. This is *bad* southern music,

First of all, take those pretty girls out of that cage, they’re not zoo animals.

Second, stop sullying the good name of Don Williams. His songs had class and subtlety, this one doesn’t. If you love the south so much and want to write a song that honors that heritage, go listen to Don’s “Good Ole Boys Like Me,” written by Bob McDill. That song is nuanced, literate, nostalgic, and honest all at once.

The south doesn’t need poorly-written rock songs to extol its virtues, it needs creative and intelligent artists to simply make good music and defy the negative and restrictive stereotypes some people have about its citizens. In the meantime, I’m sure this song will sound great next to “That’s My Kind of Night” on the soundtrack to CMT’s Party Down South.

Have to agree with the Whiskey Myers comments. Just not seeing this Cadillac Three thing.

Another band that is hot right now is Chad Sullins and the Last Call Coalition out of Stillwater, OK. They rocked The Wormy Dog a few weeks ago. Was thoroughly impressed with their live show. They rock hard but back off here and there for a great mix of styles.

Looks like more thug country to me. I’d guess they were only signed to give Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean someone cheap to tour with.

There’s enough thug and pop country in main stream country right now. I’d rather see something classy like a brand new George Straight, Brooks & Dunn or The Judds. That’s the kind of stuff that’s missing from main stream country right now.

This is the first I’ve heard of them so I can’t draw a conclusion on these guys yet. First impression was “nice costumes… now how about just wearing normal shit rather than trying to look like the music we should be able to know you are playing.”

I’m a fan of Dierks and I tongue-n-cheek like FGL cause you gotta just smile at guys that are that big of d-bags. And I could totally see how TC3, FGL and Dierks could be some fun guys to hangout with.
Dierks is a good guy.
TC3 seem like they could pick some old tunes all night
FGL could keep bringing us beer as needed.

In my opinion, this is just “predictable” , is that the word to use? I mean, McGraw/Chesney (and similar artists) have died out. 40+ women love them, but they aren’t buying up their records.
Aldean/Bryan/Church/Shelton all are in some strange no man’s land of pretty boy sort of redneck. Only folks with no time on their hands like them. Case in point, the women at my daughters daycare love this type of country. Of course they are surrounded by little kids all day, so my mind would be warped too.

FGL blew up with the teenage girls and underage drinking boys. So this is just the next move for the next demographic….find some guys, put them in “southern boy costumes” and get a little more creative with the lyrics. Really hammer on the southern thing, instead of just name dropping Hank, go with Don Williams (it might appease some older fans) and shows they aren’t just trying to grab a 17yr. olds attention.

I’m not saying they aren’t genuine guys, and I’m not going to fault them for taking the record deal and thinking they are going to change the country music world, but this is expected and if they blow up, they are a flash in the pan. If anything, it maybe a signal that things are changing. At least these guys can play instruments and write songs.

The music is fun. More Georgia Satellites than Lynyrd Skynyrd. The pandering, stupid ass lyrics ruin it for me, though. Was going to say the put on twang, too. Maybe the twang is real and the lyrics and the ridiculous video just made me assume that it was fake.

I just read the Tritt article and watched some of the video clips of Travis post there. Then I came back to this and watched this video. I urge you to do the same. Go back and forth a few times between the two.

Oh, the spiral downward. These guys couldn’t pick up empty cups after a Tritt show. But hey, they are having fun I guess.

Sounds like shit. Dime store whores dancing around in chicken wire. Fake looking stereo type of southerners. If you had not of told me so, I would have thought this video was parody. The guys in the band look like they are sporting bad wigs. Thanks but no thanks, once is enough.

“let me list off some states located in the south
now let me list off a few things you can find in those states (a large number of these things will involve alcohol)
let me tell you that I am from that location
let me do this several times
the end”

And as was mentioned by another commenter, the twang just struck me as fake or at least exaggerated quite a bit from the first word. Maybe it’s not, but with the whole “south, south, south, southern, southern southness!!!” it sure makes the twang sound put on.

I’d have to agree with the feeling that the song is earnest to the point of being contrived, with one caveat: at least they seem to be SOMEWHAT sincere. After all, they could have just gone with the normal “I’m country because of x, y and z” schtick, but the song’s approach is slightly different. For one, modern country music be it pop or otherwise rarely mentions the south. They tend to be simply about the “country”, which is commonly associated with but not exclusive to the south. Also, another key element is that this song is in now way threatening to outsiders like your normal laundry list song is. There’s no “yuppie this, I’ll kick your ass that” statement: in fact, it’s simply saying that the south is a great place to be. One of the lyrics is “even if you’re up north come on down that road” or something to that effect. There’s no us and them mindset to the song, which I think makes all the difference, particularly when it comes to laundry list songs. Most of these types of songs wouldn’t be so annoying if they weren’t so preachy; others might disagree, but I don’t find this song to be talking down in any way shape or form to those that might not be a part of its demographic (the women in cages notwithstanding). With that, I find the song enjoyable as a guilty pleasure and wish that more songs on the radio would take this less arrogant/elitist approach to countryisms.

I don’t think Borchetta sees them as the next FGL, I think he sees them as the next Brantley Gilbert. I think they will achieve some mainstream success but will mostly live off the support of a group of die hard fans, similar to what Gilbert was doing before he signed to Big Machine. I think these guys at best might make the Top 20 on radio but won’t achieve huge hits because they aren’t attractive enough to appeal to the all-too-important female demographic. What they lack in airplay they’ll make up for in sales, though.

It’s interesting that a major label signed a band that is clearly marketed at males and likely won’t have much appeal to females.

I don’t like their music. I give them credit for actually being good at their instruments, as opposed to FGL who only strum cowboy chords on guitar, but these guys seem like terrible writers. But it is kinda nice to see a band that doesn’t just use a guitar as a prop.

If we’re speaking exclusively for the female demographic, it’s also a bit surprising that Brantley Gilbert has achieved as much success as he has. Some of his songs can come across as sexist (more due to the videos than anything else), not to mention the fact that he has a ridiculously raspy “singing” voice as well as not exactly being handsome. In fact, his numerous tattoos, black earrings and what looks to be eye liner that he wears is fairly ugly, in this guy’s opinion. But I guess I wouldn’t know.

I’ve liked TC3/TCB for years. I can definitely understand the criticisms on here, though. I don’t always need a thoughtful song, sometimes I just want to hear rockin’ good music and TC3 does that for me. That’s subjective, though.

I’m not sure what the peak of their success as a band is. This could be it or they could blow up. I don’t think anyone really knows. I know that Jaren, Kelby, and Neil will have lucrative careers as writers if the TC3 thing doesn’t blow up.

Their live show is really where they shine, though. Go see them live regardless of what you think of their lyrics.

If it wasn’t for all of the mainstream artists aping the type of lyricism that The Cadillac Three use, then many more independent-minded country fans would probably be eating them up. That was really one of the underlying points of this entire article that many people missed when they just watched the video and posted their reaction. I can’t blame anyone for not liking them because pop country ruined what a band like The Cadillac Three does. But when approaching in it’s own context, this is leagues away from a Luke Bryan. AT the same time, they played right into their critic’s hands with this video, and including Florida Georgia Line.

There’s noting wrong with fun songs. Music is here to be enjoyed. It’s when the artists talk down to their fans is when fun or not, the music loses its spirit.

You took me out-of-context. I went on to say in the same paragraph, “At the same time, they played right into their critic’s hands with this video, and including Florida Georgia Line.”

Personally, I saw the chicks in cages as completely tasteless. I think it is funny some people are taking this article as a ringing endorsement of The Cadillac Three. I was simply trying to stimulate a meaningful discussion on their potential impact on country music, and do so in an objective manner. I may post a review of the song and video in the future, where criticism would me more warranted and in context.

I completely agree with this. I enjoy a handful of laundry list songs and many of them are hard to resist when they’re beaming with pride about a culture that you subscribe to, like “The South.” Only when it became over 50% of what’s on the radio with songs that mention the same exact cliches every time did I start to take issue (granted, that’s been quite a while now). “Dirt Road Anthem” was when it started to get REALLY annoying, especially since these idiots are making songs in which they RAP about being country without realizing the irony.

Sigh…. Just more of the same crap!!!! When does this shitstorm end?
That was hard to listen to and even harder to watch!
Lyrics were brutal…. So cheesy and typical of today’s Dirtbag Country.
I know it has to come to an end eventually, but I sure hope it’s soon.

At risk of sounding like “that guy” I started listening to them when they were still called Bang Bang Bang and liked them just as much then as I do now. Granted, it would be ideal if they hadn’t signed on with Borchetta but regardless it’s nice to see a decent band get signed to a big-time Nashville label. Now I just hope they stick to what they know but as it’s been seen when artists get under Borchetta’s thumb, that generally isn’t the case.

I just came here to post the same thing. I’m not sure how many of your readers are Nashville viewers. I hadn’t read this article until this morning, but I’ll admit that when I saw them on the show last night my first thought was “this song sounds good but too bad it’s another checklist song .” Someone really wanted us to notice them, though. There was a lingering close-up of the band name on the drum set, and Connie Britton’s character made sure to say their name in case we missed it.

You people (shaking my head)…these guys are obviously filled to the brim with talent! I mean if they r alreadprog recognition from big industry in Nashville, then they obviously have talent. But, I really believe they could easily bring back actual soul to country music again. We’ve been engulfed in pop country for so long now that most of us have forgotten where some of the most heartfelt country songs were born from! Born from great, but also totally fucked up artists! Artists that in their generation weren’t “pretty boys” either! Artists like Willie and Hank Jr., even Johnny Cash! So many of the best country artists of all time wrote about what we could understand and love in the south. I’m almost scared to make the association of The Cadillac Three and Lynyrd Skynycountry, I don’t think I have any choice. I’m not saing they are the next skynyrd, I’m just saying that when I heard these guys for the first time, I literally jumped up out of the bed and said “Hell yeah!…finally!”. I hope and pray that these guys keep writing and performing! The only suggestion I would have is to lean towards artists that value the traditions of renegade country, like the Zac Brown band. But, I think we’ll all see that their sheer talent will not just break an abnormally long streak of pop country, but issue in a new era of rough and gritty country that we haven’t really been able to thoroughly enjoy since the seventies and early eighties! All I can say to The Cadillac Three is MORE PLEASE!!!
You know, I saw a comment on here from someone that said their lyrics would probably do well in the south, but doubted if they could make it elsewhere. But, if anyone doubts the power of southern pride in music lyrics, I would challenge their opinion with the power of the lyrics of Freebird. Because this bird you’ll never change! If you’re southern, truly pride in the south is in you’re veins. You’re born with it, bred in it, and wouldnt ever deny it! When you hear the lyrics of their ssongs, it makes your heart beat a little faster, and remember when. My hope for these guys is that they keep chuggin along and making believers along the way!

Had to return to this old post since they just released a new single, “Party Like You”. I have become a pretty big TC3 fan recently after seeing their live show. Although their lyrics lack much depth, I respect their talent and find their sound a good change of pace, that rough southern rock sound can be perfect when you are in the right mood. That being said, “Party like you” leads me to believe there will not be much maturing when it comes to the second album. Disappointed this was chosen rather than “White Lightening” which would have at least shown that they have a little bit of range. Not surprised though, you don’t even have to hear the song to know why “party like you” was chosen as a single with the current trends. Hopefully TC3 can dig a little deeper lyrically while keeping their rough sound, would like to see them stick around for a while, its a good niche placement they find themselves in.

They probably won’t blow up, good music isn’t popular anymore. But that’s ok! We won’t have to pay $250 to see them close up! Come back to Southwest Florida so we can hit you with that home made whiskey

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Saving Country Music promotes and disseminates information about REAL country music, the underground country music movement, as well as the underground and DIY movements of roots, rockabilly, bluegrass, blues, and some folk music.

It offers news, opinion, concert and album reviews, artist profiles, music history, and occasional off-color pop country bashing.